Salvages

post-fire chicago architect theodore karl's building was constructed in the early months of 1872 for brewer conrad seipp on the pre-fire foundation using recycled or salvaged brick from the fire. the building had storefronts on the first floor (including a saloon), offices on the second, and a spacious masonic hall on the third floor catering to various clubs and lodges...

exterior photographic survey of the post-fire chicago italianate style three-story masonry mixed-use commercial building (1872), located at the southwest corner of wells and superior streets, chicago, ills. the three-story brick building (the superior side has four floors with the top floor likely added in the mid to late-1870s), with a largely intact original and distinctive street level cast iron arched...

the following images were taken in the winter of 2023-24 while carefully documenting central building and preservation's efforts to stabalize, restore and/or rebuild the oversized segmented bedford limestone window arches along the north wall of adler and sullivan's kehilath anshe ma'ariv synagogue or pilgrim baptist church (1890) that was gutted by a horriffic fire in 2006, leaving it - literally...

i haven't had time to do my research on a badly burned bronzeville residence located at 4550 south michigan avenue - just south of the swift mansion (1892) that burned in early december of 2023, but i did get a chance to shoot the distinctive carved bedford limestone facade on new year's day. in the case of 4550, the blaze...

note: the following links represent some of highlights accomplished in 2023. the posts are arranged chronologically, from beginning of 2023 to end.  BLDG. 51 ARCHIVE ACQUIRES SIZABLE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF IMPORTANT RICHARD NICKEL PHOTOGRAPHS ROOKERY BUILDING BLUEPRINTS, RARE BOOKS, ORNAMENTAL TERRA COTTA, BUILDERS' HARDWARE, AND PLYMOUTH BUILDING ARTIFACTS ADDED IN JANUARY 2023 LARGELY INTACT PAINTED PINE WOOD EXTERIOR ORNAMENT SALVAGED...

  four original red slip-glazed gothic style exterior terra cotta fence segments salvaged from northwestern terra cotta executive henry rokham's house (1887) in the 1980s, joined the bldg. 51 museum collection of historically important terra cotta earlier this month. rokham's victorian-era home was designed by architect theodore karls to showcase the use of ornamental terra cotta on a residential building...

a demolition permit for the fred w. morgan residence (1895?) will likely send the turreted three-story brick house - punctuated with bedford arches and columns and ornamented zinc dormers - into a landfill by end of summer. morgan, who founded morgan and wright, which was involved in the experimentation of rubber and production of bicycle tired (later became the united...

photographic images of walter burley griffin's 1911 william f. tempel house (interior and exterior remodeled in 1918 by barry bryne and alfonso iannelli) from its beginning to end - and what replaced it. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, the bldg. 51 archive, and urban remains llc. all rights reserved. 2023. 

the time finally arrived - and within a day of the senseless destruction of nearby 1870s italianate residence - for the humble bell avenue workers cottage, erected between 1884-1887, to fall to the wrecking ball the other day. after documenting the brick cottage before, during, and after its disappearance from the cityscape ever since it landed on the demolition delay...

despite a sizable public outcry and preservation efforts (i.e., petitions, etc) to save a rare post-chicago fire wood-framed italiante residence located at 2240 n burling, the demolition permit was released (after 90  days in a holding pattern), and the wreckers arrived and quickly reduced the well-maintained historic house - likely built around 1874 - to rubble in two days. sadly...

upon receiving news that the 19th century chicago workers cottage on bell street was released from demolition delay earlier this week, i went to shoot the exterior before the wrecking machine arrives. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, bldg. 51 archive, and the chicago workers cottage association (cwca). all rights reserved. 2023.

a work in progress... images documenting the careful extraction of willoughby j. edbrooke-designed interior residential fireplaces, cabinets, and other design elements from a south side chicago three-flat bedford greystone built in the 1880s. the edbrooke and burnham-designed three-story greystone (one of three adjoining buildings) was built as a group around 1887-88 by james c. thomas, a real estate investment broker...

demolition permit issued for bell avenue chicago 19th century brick workers cottage with completely intact bracketed pine wood cornice, lemont limestone keystones, and double arch attic window accentuated with fret-sawn spandrel. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, bldg. 51 archive, and chicago workers cottage association. all rights reserved. 2022.  the latest soon-to-be cottage casualty has inspired me to create a...

a modest downtown chicago post-fire masonry structure built between 1873-1874 for the rubber paint company will be destroyed by end of the week. the two-story brick building retains the original distinctive archtop windows punctuated with unornamented lemont limestone keystones. the original pressed metal or wood projecting cornice was removed long ago. the 1870s commerical building is located at 558 w...

a 19th century two-flat (discussed in a previous post) has been reduced to rubble, but the discovery of an aqua blobtop miller beer bottle (with intact lighting stopper) left in a wall exposed during the final moments of demolition, has made it worthwhile to photo-document the demolition from beginning to end. in fact, halfway through the demolition, another bottle was...

five historically important commercial and residential keystones from the bldg. 51 museum collection.  one of a kind original and intact museum-quality and historically important single ornamental hand carved exterior solid keystone salvaged from a pre-fire chicago german school (later known as the gethsemane missionary baptist church) constructed in 1869.       the oversized side entrance keystone is one of the...

for nearly two decades - if not longer - i've witnessed countless irreplaceable mid-to-late 19th century wood-framed worker cottages targeted for rapid removal and erasure. for the most part every site is the same, where i must carefully and methodically parse through each and every component of a cottage as it's rapidly torn apart before my eyes - usually in...

  a number of mid-19th century bottles were recently unearthed deep below the site of chicago’s former grand central station, with the four richly colored iron and smooth base soda bottles serving as the inspiration to further investigate the slew of structures that were built above ground dating back to the age of the bottles (1855-1859). the plot of land...

as more and more 19th century cottages succumbed to the wrecking ball over the course of the past year, i could not help but entertain the idea of salvaging bigger and more visually-striking house "systems," whose parts alone are powerful in size and scale.   in the beginning, over two years ago, i pushed the concept of creating a massive...

  in preparation for publishing "unearthing chicago" in 2022, i've pulled some images capturing 19th and early 20th century bottles at excavation sites around chicago. shortly after being discovered, these remnants of victorian-era rubbish were carefully exposed by removing surrounding dirt and debris to reveal a little more of their identity. even when cleaned the artifacts retain the imprint of...